Etihad Airways has won awards for Best First Class and Best Long Haul Airline Middle-East and Africa in the AirlineRatings.com 2017 Airline Excellence Awards. The Abu Dhabi-based airline was also named in the global Top Ten.

AirlineRatings.com Editor-in-Chief and Publisher, Geoffrey Thomas, said: “Etihad Airways’ attention to excellence at every level has resulted in a third consecutive win for Best First Class and Best Long Haul Airline Middle-East and Africa as well as a placing in AirlineRatings.com Top Ten.

“It’s an outstanding achievement to win an Airlineratings.com award but Etihad Airways has taken that to another level by winning each category three years in a row.

“The airline is only one of a handful that has also achieved a seven-star ranking for both product and safety with Airlineratings.com.”

Etihad Airways’ Chief Executive Officer, Peter Baumgartner, said: “To win Best First Class and Best Long Haul Airline Middle-East and Africa for the third consecutive year is a great honour and cements our position as a leader in innovative products, intuitive service and world-class hospitality.

“The awards also underscore our uncompromising commitment to engineering and operational excellence as well as safety which is, and will always be, our number one priority.”

The 2017 AirlineRatings.com awards come just weeks after the UAE flag carrier received a Skytrax Certified 5-Star Airline Rating. This followed Skytrax awards for the World’s Best First Class Airline, World’s Best First Class Onboard Catering, and World’s Best First Class Airline Seat for its Airbus A380 First Apartment in July 2016.